Thursday 31 MarchToday my mom and I left Philadelphia International Airport to make our way to Dublin, Ireland and meet up with my dad.
The flight over wasn't too bad. We enjoyed some dinner- it actually was one of the better in-flight dinners I've had- and a lot of turbulence, all while trying to get a couple of hours of sleep in before we landed in the Emerald Isle.
Friday 1 April
Today we landed at the Dublin Airport. This airport is so sparse. SO SPARSE. There is nothing there but glass and stainless steel. The Customs line wasn't too bad, my mom & I got through pretty quickly. From there, we got our baggage (rather quickly) and got a bus to our hotel.
On our way to the hotel, I took a good look out the window. I wanted to see Dublin. It was far from what I had expected. You hear the name 'Dublin' and you immediately think about the largest city in Ireland, however this is not a big city by any means. This is probably the smallest big city I've ever seen in my life. Dublin has no skyscrapers (considering it's been an amazingly poor country for the majority of its history). The buildings aren't beautiful, but they're not ugly either.
Our hotel was over by St. Stephen's Green, a beautiful park! Our hotel was really nice too. After carrying our bags to the hotel, my mom and I got to my room. I took a shower and both of us took a nap. Around 1PM my dad showed up, and we all headed out to check out the city.
First we took a walk through St. Stephen's Green to Grafton Street, a rather popular shopping street. Here, we got some delicious Indian food as a late lunch/early dinner. We walked around Grafton and by Trinity College too. From there we made our way to O'Connell Street, the major street in Dublin. The Temple Bar district is in this area, so we decided to go the the Porterhouse for some drinks and pub grub.
Tonight we retired early, as my mom and I were incredibly jet-lagged.
Saturday 2 April
Today we got up bright and early and got breakfast at the hotel. It was delicious. They had so much food, traditional European breakfasts (with meats like salami and really good bread), traditional Irish breakfasts (with stewed tomatoes and mushrooms), and breakfast foods for Americans (like cereal and yogurt). I had quite the European breakfast!
We took another look around Grafton Street today, and went over to Trinity College again. We bought some tickets to see the Book of Kells, which was awesome! After the Book of Kells we walked 2+ miles to the Guinness Storehouse, and took a tour. It was actually really cool, however I have learned that I do not like Guinness. (NOTE: Guinness is in my spell-check in my computer... Wow.) It was still cool to tour the storehouse, which is shaped like a pint glass, and watch my mom learn how to pour the perfect pint of Guinness. Supposedly it takes about 119 or 129 seconds to do because it needs to sit while the carbonation works its way to the top and forms a nice head.
After the Guinness Storehouse we took the city bus back to some street kind of close to Trinity. This took us through Grafton Street, and we stopped by a little chain fast-food place called O'Brien's. There we got some sandwiches and made our way back the hotel to eat.
Later in the evening, my parents and I met up with Steve, a friend of mine from school. The four of us went out to dinner, and afterwards Steve and I dropped by a little pub to get some drinks. While in the pub, my parents walked in, and walked by us completely. Now, keep in mind that this pub is TINY. It's the size of a walk-in closet at best. And they walked right past us... And sat right down the bar from us. By the time we were leaving, they still hadn't noticed us and so we made a move and said goodnight, etc. From there, Steve and I walked around Dublin and he showed me around and told me all about the history. It was great!
Finally, it was getting late and the busses were about to stop running, so Steve and I said goodbye.
Sunday 3 April
Today was Mother's Day in Ireland/Europe. We took a tour of Malahide Castle and Howth (pronounced "hote"), a small fishing village. It was a bus tour, which was really nice and well done. Unfortunately we didn't get much time in Howth, but we did get to see some seals! The castle we toured was interesting. It was pretty on the outside, but nothing too great on the inside. It was occupied/in use until 1975, when the last Talbot son died, leaving no heir to the castle. His sister was automatically the person the castle went to, however she lived in Tasmania. She didn't want the castle, so she signed it over to the Irish government, which is why it's now a castle that is open for tours!
After the bus tour, we were dropped off at O'Connell Street. We took another bus to Trinity and from there wen to a book store so my mom could look at Irish gardening books. Afterwards we went to a place called Cornucopia for lunch which had a ton of crazy salads and stuff.
After lunch, we went to the National Art Gallery. Unfortunately, much of this gallery was closed due to renovations, but we got to see a Yates exhibit.
Later tonight we went to Porterhouse Central for dinner and some drinks, and called it a night
Monday 4 April
Today was our last full day in Dublin. My mom and I went down to O'Connell Street and shopped a bit (Penneys/Primark is great!). After shopping the three of us went to the Cake Cafe for lunch. It was really good; I had lovely cream cheese pancakes with a rhubarb syrup thing. After the Cake Cafe, we tried to find Murphy's Ice Cream. It did not work out, so instead we went back to the hotel for a bit. Later on, we went out to find some dessert, but instead ended up at Foley's pub. We got pub grub and some drinks and listened to two guys play some really great Irish folk songs. After the pub we went to Spar to get some dessert. It was a great way to end our time in Dublin.
As a whole, I really fell in love with this city. It's so great, and I didn't want to come back (because coming back means homework and tests and school). I would love to visit the rest of Ireland too, so I can learn more and see more. It's beautiful.
♥ cb
